Chapter 5: Good Talk

Thor was so happy. He never would've guessed that Natasha of all his friends would choose to have some one-on-one time with him. She was always so mysterious and unreadable most of the time. Unless her partner was around of course. She opened up to him a little, and Thor felt nice knowing she trusted him with personal information. Even if it was still obscured mostly. After their tender moment of the roof of Cho's, he and Natasha finished their lunch. Thor got the call from Steve telling him about Sam moving. Thor said he would be there at Tony's house tomorrow for the party and he and Natasha and went back to his place. Thor loved having company, and he wasn't comfortable being at home by himself for an extended period of time. His father was still in Asgardia retrieving his family and wouldn't be back until tomorrow or so. His place wasn't as big as Tony's, but it was plenty spacious. A nice two-story house with five bedrooms and a wide front lawn. The interior of his home was decorated with countless memorabilia from Asgardia, his favorite an ancient looking hammer mounted above the fireplace. Natasha laughed when she entered his home.

"Wow. Smells like red meat and malt beer." she said.

Thor sniffed the air.

"I do not smell it."

Natasha patted his elbow.

"Well of course you don't, Hammy. You live here so you're nose-blind to it. "

Thor chuckled warmly.

"I suppose you are correct. It is a common meal of my father's. What are you in the mood for?"

Natasha put one hand on her hip and another on her chin, thinking for a moment. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. Anything you feel like doing?" she asked.

Thor nervously scratched behind his ear. There was another reason he was hoping someone would visit him, and he knew his lady Jane wouldn't be up to it. He hoped she wouldn't mind.

"Truthfully, there is something I must do that I would like your help with."

Natasha looked at him, gesturing for him to continue.

"If it is not any trouble, would you assist me in preparing Loki's room? He, father and mother return tomorrow I believe, and the room meant to be his is not ready yet."

Natasha shrugged.

"Sure. Why not?"

Thor smiled, leading her upstairs.

"Most excellent!"

They went upstairs and down the hall to Thor's room first. He was happy he decided to tidy up before leaving for football practice. He was normally a massive slob, and he didn't want that to be Natasha's first impression of him upon entering his room. Other than two empty boxes of Poptarts on his nightstand a full wastebasket in the corner, his room was perfectly presentable. Natasha sat on the edge of his king sized bed, stroking the freshly washed burgundy sheets.

"Nice digs, Thor. Asgardian money well spent if you ask me." she said with a small smile.

Thor smiled back at her as he took off his socks and shoes.

"Thank you, friend Natasha. Feel free to make yourself comfortable while I shower."

Natasha hopped up from his bed, browsing the movie selections by his television.

"Don't mind if I do."

Thor bowed to her and left his room. He hoped she would like his movie collection.

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Thor took a quick ten minute shower. He normally took longer ones, but he had a guest he didn't want to leave unattended. The smell of sweat and Chinese food on him was all but gone so he was happy. He tied his hair in a ponytail, threw on a navy blue tank-top with red basketball shorts and walked back down the hallway to his room. When Thor got to his bedroom door, he paused. He heard Natasha's voice talking to someone on the phone, and she didn't sound happy.

"Clint, you're a fucking idiot." she said, and Thor covered his mouth.

Friend Natasha is upset with Clint? I never would have thought those two to come in conflict. I wonder what is wrong. He pressed his ear closer to the door, careful not to make any noise. He knew snooping was wrong but sometimes his curiosity got the better of him.

"You know exactly why I just said that,...You're crazy about Tony, that's why."

Thor raised an eyebrow. Something was sour between Tony and Clint? He never would've thought. Every time he was around them they seemed fine. In fact, if Clint wasn't dating Natasha, he had never seen two people who complimented each other more. They both brought a lot out of each other this past month.

"Yeah? Well I'm glad he walked out on you,...Cuz you're a fucking idiot, Clint. Did you really expect him to stay there after how you acted? How you've been acting?...Look Clint, just shut up and listen to me; we've already been over this. Tony has compromised you. You know damn well you want to move forward, but you're too stupid and hardheaded to do so...Yes you are. Don't you ever try to deny my facts again, do you understand?...Good, then we understand each other."

Thor gulped nervously. He always knew Natasha could be scary. He'd seen it in action before. He just never thought she would be that way with her partner of all people. Was it like this often with them?

"No I'm not coming over there...Cuz I'm somewhere else right now and you need to figure this out on your own...We both knew this was coming ever since Truth or Dare. Clint, just tell Tony what you tell me all the time...Yes, Clint. That's an order by the way. I will cut you if you don't...Because Tony is a friend now. I like him with you. I like how you are together. If you fuck this up before it even truly begins I will wreck you, do you understand?...Good. Now you go ahead and do what you have to do...Yes of course you'll see me before Sam's party tomorrow,...Okay. Good talk...You, too. Bye, Clint."

Thor heard her hang up and sigh heavily. He smiled to himself. He could hear in her voice how much Natasha truly cared for Clint. Now Tony, too. She could sound as icy and threatening as she wanted, but he knew that was just her way of showing concern. Her very scary way of showing concern.

"I know you're there, Thor." she said suddenly, and Thor jumped.

He slowly opened the door to his room and walked in. Natasha was sitting cross legged on his bed, the movie she'd watching on pause. She was gripping her cell phone tightly in one hand and stroking her arrow necklace with the other.

"Will you be okay, friend Natasha?" he asked.

Natasha pursed her lips and looked at Thor.

"Oh I'll be fine. It's my dummy of a partner I'm worried about." she said.

Thor couldn't help but laugh.

"Why do you always call him 'dummy'?" he asked.

Natasha stuck her tongue in her cheek, smiling with her eyes.

"I thought it would've been obvious by now." she said.

Thor simply shrugged, taking a seat next to her on the bed.

"Perhaps, but as you say, that is a different thing."

They both chuckled as Natasha grabbed the remote and pressed 'play', resuming the movie.

After Thor and Natasha watched a movie and his room, they went and prepared Loki's room together. It was originally a spare room, full of boxes and papers and other miscellaneous things that made it cluttered. Natasha organized the boxes and helped put them in better places while Thor brought in the mattresses and dressers Loki would be using. Then they both helped make the room presentable, dressing the bed in brand new green sheets and bringing all the dusty boxes to a corner in the garage. It took longer than Thor would have liked, but the room ended up looking great. He and Natasha were tired from their task and Thor didn't feel like cooking, so he ordered them three meat-lovers pizzas. Thor of course ended up eating two and half of those three pizzas, but it was okay. Natasha was fine with her one half. After dinner, Thor fed his cat Mjolnir and watched another movie with Natasha. When the evening came, Thor offered Natasha the other guest room downstairs if she wanted to spend the night. The redhead seemed hesitant, but Thor gave her puppy dog eyes and she agreed to sleep over. In the morning he would drop her off at her house so she could get changed and then go to the party later on herself. She changed into one of his over sized t-shirts as night-wear and went to sleep almost immediately.

Back in his room, Thor got ready for bed himself when Jane called. He wasn't too sleepy yet so they talked for a while.

Thor chuckled, holding his Stark-Phone closer to his ear.

"Did Darcy truly say that, lady Jane?...Well then I am sorry I was not there to witness it...Oh yes, I believe everything will be okay for my brother's arrival...You want to meet him? I am not positive that would be a good idea...Because he has a very venomous tongue at times. I do not want him saying anything wrong about you...I see. Well I can only hope you are correct...I will retrieve you tomorrow morning before we go to friend Tony's...Oh indeed. I am going to miss Sam as well...Yes. Well Betty and little Darcy be with you?...Excellent...Okay...I love you as well, lady Jane...Sleep well, lady Jane."

Thor hung up and set his Stark-Phone on his nightstand. It was late, and he wasn't sure what to do next. His mind wasn't letting him go to sleep yet even though he really wanted to. He tried watching another movie while wrapped under his covers, but that proved futile. He couldn't get himself to be invested in what was happening on screen, so he turned his TV off and stared at nothing in the darkness of his room. Thor's mind kept going in circles back to Loki. In less than two days he would be seeing him again. He kept running 'What ifs' in his mind. What if Loki still hates me? What if this is not the best idea? What if Loki causes trouble with my friends? What if Loki's grudge still holds? What if I fail again to earn his forgiveness?What if, what if, what if?! He groaned and smacked his head against the pillow. He was so anxious about the situation that he now he couldn't sleep. At least not right away. Thor took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hoping that maybe Sam's going away party would help keep his mind off things before he saw his brother.

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Hours went by, and Steve was still having a good time. After they hung out in his room, Steve, Sam, and Bruce went downstairs. His mother had asked him to clean up while she went out grocery shopping, and Sam and Bruce were kind enough to stick around and offer their assistance. Steve accepted without question, happy that he had friends who were willing to help tidy up a house that wasn't theirs. He decided to be nice back and took care of the bathrooms, his least favorite chore. Bruce washed the dishes while Sam vacuumed the living room and the carpet in the stairs. After they cleaned the house, Steve set up his X-Box in the living room. He and his friends played endless rounds on Battlefield, the time just flying by. Steve, who was interested in the military in real life, was in the lead most of the time with Sam not far behind. Bruce admittedly was awful at the game, but he enjoyed playing with them none the less. That's all that matters, right? When the evening came, Sam checked the time on his watch.

"Oh man. Yo, I gotta get home soon. There's still some last minute packing to do." he said after their current match ended.

"Oh. I see. Well, do you think you have time for some chow? I could whip something up really quick." said Steve.

He knew he would be seeing plenty of Sam tomorrow during the party, but he wanted to spend as much time with him as he could. Sam smiled at him.

"Yeah, man. What'd you have in mind?" he asked.

Bruce licked his lips.

"I saw those pepperoni slices in your fridge. I wouldn't mind doing something with those." he said hopefully.

Steve smiled at him. Of course he saw those.

"Hey, what do you say we turn nine years old for a while and eat those with some cheese and crackers? You know, Lunchables style." he suggested.

Sam laughed and slapped his shoulder.

"Sounds alright to me."

Bruce smiled but looked down. Steve looked at the brunette. He was pursing his lips as he followed Steve and Sam to the kitchen. Steve just noticed that Bruce hadn't said too much the past few hours. Bruce was naturally a quieter person much like Natasha, but something about him seemed bothered. Time to be good ole Captain. He thought. He put his hand on Bruce's thin shoulder as they walked to the fridge.

"Something up, Brucie Boy?" he asked.

Bruce chuckled at the nickname. Steve still had no idea where Tony got that one from.

"Little bit, but that's a different thing." Bruce replied.

Sam who overheard turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is it really?" he asked.

Bruce shrugged and took a seat at the kitchen table. He was hunching, and Steve wished badly that Bruce would stop doing that all the time. It was like Bruce was still in his shell, and Steve knew he was way past that when it came to being around their Circle.

"I don't know. Things have been weird lately with Betty and I." said the science lover.

Steve took a seat opposite of Bruce, placing his hands on the table.

"Weird how?" he asked.

"Weird like, distant. She seems,... I don't know, indifferent to me lately. I try to talk to her about casual stuff or give her a kiss here and there, and she just doesn't respond. Yesterday I asked if I could spend the night after we studied together, and she said 'no' without any reason."

Steve bit at the corner of his mouth. He remembered his split with Sharon not too long ago. He wasn't an expert on relationships, but something was telling him Betty was showing 'break-upy' kind of behavior. He didn't want to say that out loud, so instead he asked Bruce,

"That's uh, unfortunate. Why do you think she's been acting like this?"

Bruce ran a hand through his hair and sighed, tapping his fingers on the table.

"You got me there. Betty is the only girlfriend I've had my entire life. Normally if something is on her mind she'd tell me but, not this time." he said, looking down at his fingernails.

"You think maybe it's because you've been hanging out with us so much lately?" asked Sam grabbing the pepperonis.

Bruce stuck his tongue in his cheek.

"Not too sure about that. After all, it was her who encouraged me to go to Tony's party. She was happy that I had fun when I came back, and every time I go out with you guys Betty just smiles and tells me to have a good time. Plus she's been hanging out with Jane a lot. On top of that, I still spend a lot of my free time with her."

Steve placed a hand on Bruce's wrist, giving him a warm smile.

"I wouldn't be worried, Bruce," he said, feeling guilty for partially lying,

"I haven't seen her much, but Betty seems like a nice girl. I'm sure whatever her behavior is she'll explain it to you soon."

Bruce gave a playful snort, rubbing his left temple with his thumb.

"I just hope I'm prepared for whatever explanation it is. We are too far into our relationship to be playing any sort of mind games if you ask me."

Sam scoffed, grabbing the crackers out of the cabinet.

"Oh Brucie Boy, sorry to tell you this but that's not exactly true. Females are always gonna want to play mind games with us guys. But like Steve said, I wouldn't worry too much." he said.

Bruce was still looking down, but Steve saw him shake with low laughter.

"Being seventeen sucks sometimes." sighed Bruce.

Steve stood up from the table, laughing with him.

"Preaching to the choir on that one, Bruce." said Sam.

Steve joined Sam by the counter, the two of them making neat cracker sandwiches with the pepperonis and cheese slices.

"Speaking of things that suck, you know what else is bad about you leaving, Sammy?" asked Steve.

"What?"

"With you gone, I'm gonna be the only single one."

Bruce arched an eyebrow while Sam chuckled.

"What about Natasha? Isn't she single?"

Steve gave Bruce a look that said 'Really?'

"Brucie Boy, please. She and Tony both may as well be in a relationship with Clint."

"You mean they aren't already?" Sam joked.

Bruce laughed, running a hand through his hair again. Why does he always do that I wonder?

"You know the sad part? I can't tell if you two are joking or not."

Steve waved at the air with a laugh.

"Oh I am. Honestly if Natasha wanted to date Clint, she would've done so a long time ago."

Bruce shrugged.

"I don't know about that one. Remember what Sam said? She's a female."

Sam shook his head.

"Naw, Bruce. You've seen those two. They keep it one-hundred percent real all the time. Steve's right."

Bruce just shrugged again.

Steve and Sam made around two dozen cracker sandwiches on a spangly designed platter. He tried one, giving his two guests a thumbs up. Steve was carefully bringing the platter to them when he heard a knock at the door. Sam turned to him.

"You invite anyone else?" he asked.

Steve shook his head and set the platter down on the table.

"I wonder who it is." he said to himself.

He went and opened the front door, shocked at the sight of the visitor. Standing there was a handsome well built guy with brown shaggy hair and a dimpled chin. He was about a year older than Steve, wearing a black tank-top and khaki pants. A red duffel bag hung on his shoulder. The guy grinned at Steve, chewing a piece of gum.

"'Sup, Steve." he greeted.

Steve stared wide eyed at him, surprised to finally see him after nearly a year since he went off to college.

"Bucky?!"

A/N: That's right. Bucky's in the story now. Something special is on the way! :)